Three students - Owenn Phua from ML303 ( also selected to be on the mentorship scheme ), Dinh Cao Tue ( MN519 ) and Leong Xiu Yi ( MN518 ) - had the novel opportunity of attending the prestigious annual Creative Arts Seminar ( 31 May – 4 June ) jointly organized by the Gifted Branch , Ministry of Education and Yale-NUS via Zoom . They were able to connect with prominent local writers and peers ( albeit digitially ), and learn more about the art of writing . Lumen is proud to feature their writing along with their thoughts on the Creative Arts Programme ( CAP ):

OWENN PHUA

The education system doesn ’ t just know your whole past , we know your whole life , how it ’ s all meant to be .

At birth a small piece of clay , Mouldable , with “ tender loving care ”. Slowly we will shape you : the perfect doctor , the perfect lawyer , the perfect politician . You are good at this , you will do it : Take the opportunity , don ’ t back out . What is not meant for you , has already been predetermined . A choice ? Of course you have one . ( Of course , you have ONE .) And if you deviate from our path , We will support you , unless you fail , And perhaps that ’ s by design . This batch seems to be doing too well , That was not the plan - Let ’ s add a ‘ glass ceiling ’ for all , Take away merits from some areas . Perfect , it ’ s for your own good . This batch seems to be failing . Looks like we have a batch of failures . FAILURES . You stop to dream : Dream of going beyond these barriers , Dream of a different life , a different path . No . Wake up . Be more on task . ‘ I did not pick this . You picked this for me !’ We picked the best for you . If you quit , you lose . Education is the lighting of a fire , but go astray , and we will light you on fire .

Our system is great right ? Look at how good you ’ ve become ! Let ’ s show the rest ! ( But hide the ones which don ’ t survive the pressure cooker . They are useless .) Remember , your future has been justified , A perfect Helvetica , Calibri , Arial . Font size 12 Draft . Justified .

Commentary :

This poem is meant to convey the rigidness of the education system , and how in Singapore especially , every student already has a path laid out in front of them for them to follow . This path may be laid out by parents , teachers ’ expectations , schools , society , which in my opinion , all adds up as “ the education system ”.

My title is a play on a line from the series Loki , the original being “ The TVA doesn ’ t just know your whole past , we know your whole life , how it ’ s all meant to be .” I found this quote quite fitting , and in fact the idea of the “ TVA ” was actually a big inspiration for this piece . The fact that everything has been planned and the child often has little choice in choosing his own pathway , and following his dreams or passions . I decided to further convey this point with the play on the words “ A choice ? Of course you have one ” to “ A choice ? Of course , you have ONE .” The comma changes the meaning of the sentence from formally being that the student has a choice and can pick for himself , to now being that the student in fact does not have any other choice , apart from the one in front of him .

The quote “ I did not pick this . You picked this for me !” was actually taken from the book Battle hymn of the Tiger Mother . So often , the students ’ pathways are not actually determined by the students themselves . They are more so funnels , which direct students to a certain direction , until they are old enough to decide for themselves . However , at the time , they are already so far deep , that they are unable to change direction , unless they drop everything .

I wrote this poem from the perspective of “ the education system ” as a sort of omniscient narrator cum all-knowing being , a ‘ god like ’ entity which decides fates . So , the point of view is slightly obscure , and “ the education system ” can be a lot of things . However , I think it adds to the effect of my poem as it shows that there are many different factors deciding the path of a student ; ironically , it is usually everyone but the student himself .